It’s a little known fact that interns in the workplace are not protected from discrimination under the law, and some members of Congress are seeking to change that by extending civil rights protections to unpaid interns who work for federal or state governments or private-sector companies.

Since unpaid interns are not financially compensated, they are not considered employees and therefore are not afforded the protections granted by the Civil Rights Act, which requires that workers receive “significant remuneration” to have any recourse.

“It is unacceptable that employees and interns working right next to each other have different levels of protection against abuse,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., who together with Reps. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., and Bobby Scott, D-Va., this week sponsored three pieces of legislation that would make it illegal for public and private sector employers to discriminate, sexually harass and retaliate against interns. “There should be no legal grey area when we are talking about preventing sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace,” Cummings added.

Presently, there are no federal laws or safeguards that protect unpaid interns against sexual harassment or discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender, religion, national origin, age, handicapping condition and other factors, the lawmakers said in a joint statement.

Under their proposal, an intern who faced such discrimination could sue in court under the Civil Rights Act.

If passed, the bills would clarify the definition of “intern” as “someone who performs uncompensated voluntary service in an agency to earn credit awarded by an educational institution or to learn a trade or occupation”; extend workplace protections against discrimination and harassment to unpaid interns; and close existing loopholes that permit such discrimination.

“Internships are often the first real entry into a profession and onto a career path,” Scott said in the statement. “The Unpaid Intern Protection Act would ensure that interns in the workplace are free from discrimination and harassment.”

Meng added that “a negative experience like this can be devastating to young interns as they start their careers, and these types of incidents can have terrible impacts on their futures.

“Internships can be a wonderful opportunity to learn and gain valuable real-world experience … but interns, most of whom are high school and college students, are not afforded the same federal workplace protections that cover employees,” she added. “That is blatantly unfair and this loophole in the law must be changed. Nobody — from a junior intern to a senior executive — deserves to be harassed, discriminated or retaliated against at work.”

According to a report by The Huffington Post, several legal cases have been dismissed because courts have concluded that unpaid interns are not employees covered by the Civil Rights Act. However, it added, about a half-dozen states and the District of Columbia have passed laws protecting unpaid workers from sexual harassment or discrimination. The most recent was in Connecticut last month where the state House of Representatives unanimously approved similar legislation.

Once a respected supporter of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), actor and comedian Bill Cosby’s ties to these historic institutions have crumbled in the wake of a recently released and conclusive depositionin which Cosby admitted to giving sedatives to women with whom he wanted to have sexual relations.

This information appears to have been the final straw for Spelman College, a historically Black women’s college in Atlanta. The college has terminated the William and Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby Endowed Professorship, a university spokeswoman announced. The related funds have been returned to the Clara Elizabeth Jackson Carter Foundation, an organization established by Camille Cosby.

The endowed professorship was funded in part by the Cosby’s $20 million donation to the college in 1988. It was established to bring accomplished visiting scholars to campus. At the time, the donation was the largest ever given to an HBCU by African Americans.

Spelman actually suspended the professorship in December when the public became aware that more than two dozen women, including supermodels Janice Dickinson and Beverly Johnson, had accused Cosby of sexual assault or rape. The school said Cosby’s controversy prevented the objectives of endowed professorship from being met.

The HBCU has a long history with the Cosby family. In November, President Beverly Daniel Tatum, released a statement, which mentions the relationship:

Two Cosby daughters attended Spelman College. Our building is named after Dr. Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby. The endowed professorship is named after both Cosby parents. The historic $20 million gift that the college received in 1988, more than 25 years ago, came from the Cosby family. Though it is not appropriate for the college to comment publicly on specific allegations against any individual, sexual assault is a profoundly serious issue for any educational institution. Please know that we do not condone sexual violence in any form and understand our critical role as a women’s college to lead in the fight against it.

Cosby’s daughters, Erika and Evin, as well as Keshia Knight Pulliam, who played his youngest daughter Rudy Huxtable on “The Cosby Show,” attended Spelman.

Lincoln University, a HBCU in Pennsylvania, which Cosby raised money for, parted ways with him in the summer of 2014.

According to Inside Higher Ed the university said Cosby was recruited to be part of the first phase of its “Student First” capital campaign, which began in the summer of 2013 and ended in June 2014. To mark the end of that phase he performed a concert in July 2014.

“Mr. Cosby has no current association with the University’s Student First campaign,” the university said in a statement.

Cosby continues to deny the accusations of sexual assault and has never been charged.

On July 26, New York magazine revealed its new cover displaying 35 of the 46 women who have publicly accused Cosby of sexual assault at some point in the past 50 years all seated and dressed in all black, with one empty chair for the women who have remained silent. The image was rapidly shared on social media.

University of Cincinnati Police Officer Ray Tensing stopped Samuel DuBose, an unarmed Black man, off campus just after 6 p.m. on July 19 because his front license plate was missing. The encounter ended with DuBose being shot in the head.

During a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Hamilton County, Ohio, Prosecutor Joe Deters announced Tensing, a 25-year-old white male, was indicted on murder charges by a grand jury in the shooting death of DuBose. The officer’s body cam video, which captured the incident, was then shown.

Deters described the killing as “the most asinine act I’ve ever seen a police officer make.”

In the video, Tensing tells DuBose to provide his driver’s license. The two discuss whether or not DuBose has it with him. DuBose hands over an unopened bottle of alcohol. The calm exchange escalates when Tensing tells DuBose to take off his seat belt. DuBose responds, “I didn’t even do nothing” and starts the car. Tensing tries to open the car door with his left hand and he and DuBose briefly struggle with the door. Tensing fires his weapon with his right hand, shooting DuBose. The vehicle then rolled to a crash.

See the video:

The encounter described in the police report conflicts with the video.

The report states, “[Tensing] began to be dragged by a Black driver who was operating [a] 1998 Honda Accord” and, because he was “almost run over by the driver,” he was forced to shoot DuBose.

Deters said Tensing was not dragged and that he fell back after shooting DuBose in the head.

“This office has probably reviewed upwards of 100 police shootings and this is the first time that we thought this is without question a murder,” Deters said.

He also pointed out that DuBose, 43, was subdued and Tensing had his license number.

“People want to believe Mr. DuBose had done something violent toward the officer,” Deters said. “He did not. He did not at all. This just does not happen in the United States. People don’t get shot for a traffic stop unless they’re violent toward the police officer. And [DuBose] wasn’t.”

The university’s police chief dismissed Tensing from the force. He has turned himself in to authorities. If convicted, he faces 15 years to life. Tensing’s lawyer, Stewart Mathews, calls the murder indictment “absolutely unwarranted.” He pleaded not guilty in a court arraignment on Thursday morning. Bond was set at $1 million.

All day Monday, 12 Hamilton County residents reviewed evidence as part of their grand jury investigation.

The same day, Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell and City Manager Harry Black told WPCO they saw the then unreleased footage from the body cam.

“It’s not a good situation,” Black said. “It’s a tragic situation, someone has died that did not necessarily need to die.”

“The video is not good,” Blackwell said.

In anticipation of the announcement, the university closed on Wednesday, and the Cincinnati police prepared for unrest, which did not occur.

The city has a history of strained relations between police and Black residents due to racial profiling.

From April 9 to 13, 2001, civil unrest took place after Timothy Thomas, 19, an unarmed Black male, was shot and killed by off-duty Cincinnati police officer Stephen Roach, age 27.

Thomas was wanted for 14 nonviolent counts, 12 of which were traffic citations. Roach claimed that he saw Thomas reach for a gun, but the investigation later determined that he was unarmed. Roach was acquitted of all charges. He was not wearing a body cam.

DuBose’s family, who held his funeral on Tuesday, is now in the national spotlight for losing a loved one to law enforcement. The family held a press conference following Deter’s indictment announcement.

“I just thank God everything is being revealed,” said DuBose’s mother, Audrey. “I knew that [God] loved my child. I knew that this was going to be uncovered.”

“My brother was about to be just one other stereotype and that is not going to happen,” DuBose’s sister Terina Allen said.

Following an executive committee meeting proposing to end a ban on gay troop leaders, the Boy Scouts of America’s national executive board voted on Monday in favor of officially lifting the ban — “effective immediately,” according to the BSA’s website.

The proposed new policy received criticism prior to the national executive board’s vote because it still leaves individual charters with the authority to discriminate based on sexuality. The BSA’s statement read, in part:

Chartered organizations will continue to select their adult leaders and religious chartered organizations may continue to use religious beliefs as criteria for selecting adult leaders, including matters of sexuality. This change allows Scouting’s members and parents to select local units, chartered to organizations with similar beliefs, that best meet the needs of their families. This change also respects the right of religious chartered organizations to choose adult volunteer leaders whose beliefs are consistent with their own.

Dr. Robert Gates is the current president of the BSA. He is also former Director of Central Intelligence under President George H.W. Bush and former Secretary of Defense under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He explained upon the initial announcement his belief that doing it any other way would be detrimental to the organization, saying, “I truly fear that any other alternative will be the end of us as a national movement.”

His concern stems from the BSA’s strong ties to many religious groups: 71.5 percent of Boy Scout units are religiously affiliated. On the top of the list of religious organizations with Boy Scout charters is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has maintained a relationship with the BSA for a century. As of 2013, the church possessed 37,933 BSA units. This is more than any other religious organization — and more than triple the amount of the runner-up, the United Methodist Church, which saw 10,703 units.

But this new policy may be enough for the Mormons to end its lengthy relationship with the BSA. In a statement following the announcement, the church said:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is deeply troubled by today’s vote by the Boy Scouts of America National Executive Board … The Church has always welcomed all boys to its Scouting units regardless of sexual orientation. However, the admission of openly gay leaders is inconsistent with the doctrines of the Church and what have traditionally been the values of the Boy Scouts of America.

What is puzzling is the church’s reaction to the BSA’s 2013 decision to allow gay scouts to join the organization – a decision the church supported:

Sexual orientation has not previously been — and is not now — a disqualifying factor for boys who want to join Latter-day Saint Scout troops. Willingness to abide by standards of behavior continues to be our compelling interest … The Church appreciates BSA’s reaffirmation of its commitment to “duty to God,” which includes service to others and moral behavior — central principles of our teaching to young men. As in the past, the Church will work with BSA to harmonize what Scouting has to offer with the varying needs of our young men. We trust that BSA will implement and administer the approved policy in an appropriate and effective manner.

However, the Mormons are not the only religious group with strong ties to the BSA. In 2013, Catholics had 8,131 BSA units — putting it in third just behind the United Methodist Church. And despite the church’s seemingly mixed views on issues centering around homosexuality, the National Catholic Committee on Scouting (which does not officially speak for the church but is generally “defer[ed] to” by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops regarding scout-related issues) stated that the Catholic church does not plan to end its relationship with the BSA:

The National Catholic Committee on Scouting recognizes that differences in religious beliefs among chartered organizations and society in general have played a part in the creation of this resolution. While this fluctuating situation will be increasingly challenging, we recognize the vital importance of providing a Catholic emphasis to Catholic Scouts and Scouters seeking ways to live out their “duty to God.” We also recognize the increasing need for the Catholic Church to offer Scouting as a program of youth ministry. Chartering Scout units will ensure that youth within their faith communities are led by faith-filled role models who share the same interests in Scouting.

The United Methodist Church has also decided to maintain its relationship with the BSA, saying on its website, “The Boy Scouts of America’s decision on July 27 to lift its national ban on openly gay adult leaders has the support of United Methodists of varied theological perspectives.”

The BSA has been seeing a steady decline in membership over the past several years, and this number went up even more following the organization’s 2013 decision to grant membership to gay scouts. Meanwhile, unlike the BSA in its attempts to achieve diversity, the Girl Scouts of the USA, which emphasizes diversity as a core value, has seen a membership increase over recent years.

Since the announcement, the BSA has publically emphasized its appreciation for its strong relationship with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, despite the possibility of losing a considerable number of members, the BSA has made no indication that it will change its mind on lifting the ban.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will consider the issue in August, when its leaders had already planned to meet.

]]>http://www.diversityinc.com/news/mormons-consider-ending-relationship-with-boy-scouts/feed/11ADP’s Debbie Dyson: Keep Raising Your Handhttp://www.diversityinc.com/news/adps-debbie-dyson-keep-raising-your-hand/
http://www.diversityinc.com/news/adps-debbie-dyson-keep-raising-your-hand/#commentsWed, 29 Jul 2015 21:46:36 +0000http://www.diversityinc.com/?p=48467”One of the things that was always important was remaining visible, not only as an individual contributor but as a leader. No matter what opportunity came up, I was always raising my hand.”

As a direct report to President and CEO Carlos Rodriguez, Debbie Dyson is a powerhouse at ADP. As the person charged with continuous improvement and client experience, she is critical to the company’s growth and sustainability.

Debbie is only the second person to hold this position—and the first woman and the first Black. She has 12 direct reports and is responsible for more than 14,000 employees globally. Her task is to use Lean Six Sigma methodology to transform the business to better operate and deliver service to clients.

Diversity of thought and experience, she notes, is crucial to her team’s succeeding. “Innovation comes in so many different packages, regardless of age, gender, race, et cetera. … I’ve welcomed the opportunity to think of business in such a broad manner as I do now,” she says.

A Major Promotion

Debbie officially started the job last July but was involved since her promotion was announced in April 2014.

“Did I see this coming? Well, it was a good surprise. I had a moment when I thought, ‘Really?’” she says. “Not to say somebody dialed the wrong number, but I couldn’t think that this was really happening.”

Debbie Dyson

Current Position
Corporate Vice President, Client Experience and Continuous Improvement, ADP (No. 24 in the DiversityInc Top 50)

Previous Position
Division Vice President/General Manager of the Major Account Services’ South Service Center, ADP

EducationBachelor’s Degree in Finance, Santa Clara University

CommunityBreast Cancer Awareness Advocate

She didn’t know the significance “of my sitting in this seat until I started,” she says. She notes that many people in the organization look at her as a role model because she started as a customer-service rep and has worked her way up.

“I have worn multiple hats at ADP and one of the things that was always important was remaining visible, not only as an individual contributor but as a leader. No matter what opportunity came up, I was always raising my hand and wanted to perform beyond expectations,” she says.

In her last job, as a general manager and division vice president, she noted that people were often surprised when they met her.

“Before I landed in New Jersey I was in Atlanta. When I got there, people were shocked by the magnitude of an African-American woman being in this job,” she says.

Family, Job Loyalties

Debbie started working at ADP four days before she graduated from Santa Clara University, where she majored in finance. She went to a job fair at school and saw the ADP table with the big red logo. The recruiter had come all the way from New Jersey and there was no one else at the table.

“We had an instant connection. She was describing what they did, which at that time was mainly payroll,” Debbie says.

She particularly valued the training she received in her first job as a key account manager. The training was very thorough and prepared her to work successfully at ADP. It consisted of two weeks in New Jersey alternating with two weeks in Northern California for three months.

“They were hiring hungry graduates who had that edge they were looking for. I knew nothing about payroll but it fascinated me. I loved working with clients but still dealing with numbers,” she says.

Debbie grew up in Northern California, where her father was a master sergeant in the U.S. Air Force and her mother was a registered nurse.

Her father is now retired. Her brother, who was three years older than Debbie, passed away when she was 16 and her mother died five years ago from breast cancer.

“I’m very motivated to make them proud. They are not here so I can represent what they weren’t able to do. My mom wrote me a note to make sure that you give back—and I do,” she says.

Building an Inclusive Company

Debbie’s been involved with ADP’s employee resource groups from the beginning. She was one of the core members who started the African-American group a decade ago, and she has served as its executive sponsor.

She’s had many mentors, “and I took the best from all of them to evolve myself and learn how I can interact with different people,” she says. Today, she receives many requests from people at ADP for mentoring advice.

“I tell them they can call me whenever they want. I never say no,” she says.

]]>http://www.diversityinc.com/news/adps-debbie-dyson-keep-raising-your-hand/feed/0Huckabee Trying To Out-Trump Trumphttp://www.diversityinc.com/news/huckabee-trying-to-out-trump-trump/
http://www.diversityinc.com/news/huckabee-trying-to-out-trump-trump/#commentsWed, 29 Jul 2015 14:36:17 +0000http://www.diversityinc.com/?p=48455Obama “will take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven...”

The rhetoric among presidential candidates — especially those in the GOP seeking to secure a spot in next month’s first primary debate — appears to be an attempt to out-Herod Herod, or its modern day equivalent: to out-Trump Trump.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee this past weekend said that, in pushing for a deal to disarm Iran, President Barack Obama “will take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven,” a reference to the process Nazis used to kill Jews in death camps during World War II.

“The particular comments of Mr. Huckabee are, I think, part of just a general pattern we’ve seen … that would be considered ridiculous if it weren’t so sad,” Obama said at a press conference in Ethiopia Monday. “Maybe this is just an effort to push Mr. Trump out of the headlines, but it’s not the kind of leadership that’s needed for America right now.”

Republican candidates have looked in awe, dismay and even panic as Trump has shot to the top of the polls in just weeks since launching his presidential campaign, with that popularity seemingly coming from his compounding outrageous comments on everything from calling Mexicans rapists to saying Sen. John McCain, a Vietnam POW, is not a war hero.

For the 2016 Republican candidates, polling numbers right now are very important, and the stakes are high. The first GOP presidential debate takes place Aug. 6, and per the rules stipulated by debate host Fox News, only the top 10 contenders leading in the polls will be allowed to participate.

So with 16 official Republican candidates vying to make the cut, taking a page out of Trump’s playbook can be a tempting tactic.

And while it appears that Huckabee’s comments on Breitbart News on Saturday may have crossed the line with Democrats, moderates, Jewish leaders and even Israeli leaders opposed to the Iran deal, many Republicans, including right-wing media, have actually embraced the comments.

Former Sen. Rick Santorum said Huckabee’s remarks were “absolutely right.”

CNN conservative political commentator S.E. Cupp said his comment was “100 percent an accurate statement” and “absolutely true,” while Washington Examiner managing editor Philip Klein wrote an opinion piece headlined, “Huckabee is right: Obama’s Iran deal would enable a second Holocaust.”

Many others agreed with Huckabee’s sentiment, though said they would have used different words.

For his part, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush called Huckabee’s language “just wrong” and urged Republicans to “tone down the rhetoric.”

In an interview with Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren Tuesday night, Trump himself defended Huckabee’s choice of words, saying the former Arkansas governor has nothing to apologize for.

“I’m OK with it,” Trump said. “I think he’s a very good guy, Huckabee, by the way, and I’m really OK with it. Some people are saying, ‘Oh, the tone,’ and I saw Jeb Bush, who I also think is a nice person, but it’s not about tone. I mean, they’re chopping off Christians’ heads in Syria and lots of other places and we’re worried about tone. I think what Mike has done is he has hit a nerve and he’s made people think a little bit.”

“Comments like these are offensive and have no place in our political dialogue. I am disappointed and I am really offended personally,” said Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton. “I know Governor Huckabee. I have a cordial relationship with him … but I find this kind of inflammatory rhetoric totally unacceptable. It should be repudiated by every person of good faith and concern about the necessity to keep our political dialogue on the facts and within suitable boundaries.”

Jonathan Greenblatt, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said in a statement that Huckabee’s comments were “completely out of line and unacceptable. To hear Mr. Huckabee invoke the Holocaust when America is Israel’s greatest ally and when Israel is a strong nation capable of defending itself is disheartening.”

Transportation Minister Israel Katz, a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on Tuesday took to Facebook, saying the comments were “wrong and unnecessary.”

“Nobody marches the Jews to ovens anymore. To this end we established the State of Israel and the [Israel Defense Forces]; and, if need be, we will know how to defend ourselves, by ourselves.” — Israeli Transportation Minister Israel Katz

Daniel Kurtzer, who served as U.S. ambassador to Israel under President George W. Bush, said on MSNBC that Huckabee’s comments were akin to the type of rhetoric that led to the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by a right-wing Israeli radical in 1995.

“In some ways it’s a form of incitement, and we’ve seen the results of that 20 years ago in Israel. There are serious issues to be debated here, but for anybody to equate what the president’s doing to what Adolf Hitler did in World War II is just extraordinary,” he said. “I just hope that people really stand back and understand that Mr. Huckabee has crossed a very serious line here. Every Republican candidate should stand up, condemn this and ask him to retract it.”

However, also in Trump-like fashion, Huckabee not only is not apologizing, but he has been doubling down.

“The response from Jewish people has been overwhelmingly positive,” Huckabee said Tuesday on NBC’s “Today” show. “The response from Holocaust survivors, from the children of Holocaust survivors … People were overwhelmingly supportive.”

“This is one of the best organizations I’ve worked for,” Nandita Bakhshi, Head of Consumer Bank for TD Bank, said. “Every single person at TD, both north or south of the border, works extremely hard to make it a very inclusive culture where people are treated with respect. People are valued. They’re supported.”

Bakhshi has more than 25 years of national and international experience in the financial services industry. She recently sat down for an interview with CEO of DiversityInc Luke Visconti at TD Bank’s offices in Cherry Hill, N.J.

Bakhshi and Visconti discussed topics including advice for young professionals, TD Bank’s culture, the efforts of CEO Mike Pedersen and the personal development of employees.

“For the first time, we’re actually requiring 100 percent of our employees, all 28,000 of them, to have, with their manager, a full discussion on their personal development plan,” Bakhshi said.

TD Bank ranks No. 39 on DiversityInc’s 2015 Top 50 Companies for Diversity. The company also ranked No. 2 on the Top 10 Companies for Diversity Councils list.

]]>http://www.diversityinc.com/news/td-bank-evp-nandita-bakhshi-shares-her-rise/feed/0New Deloitte CEO Cathy Engelbert: Once a High-Potential, Now an Inspirationhttp://www.diversityinc.com/news/new-deloitte-ceo-cathy-engelbert-once-a-high-potential-now-an-inspiration/
http://www.diversityinc.com/news/new-deloitte-ceo-cathy-engelbert-once-a-high-potential-now-an-inspiration/#commentsTue, 28 Jul 2015 20:47:22 +0000http://www.diversityinc.com/?p=48445"My main goal is to inspire our men and women and be very inclusive. I want everybody to know that diversity and inclusion are priorities for me."

Former Chairman and CEO Mike Cook was just launching Deloitte’s first women’s initiative. “He had daughters and he looked at the fact that 50 percent of accounting majors coming out of grad school were women,” she recalls. “Our leadership at the partner level was less than 10 percent women at the time.”

As a high-potential, Cathy was encouraged to take risks and stretch assignments. “I was a young manager, not yet married, and the culture at Deloitte helped me grow and get different experiences. … The partners sponsored me and asked, ‘What does Cathy need? What client should she work with?’”

Stretch Assignments Are Critical

When she made partner in 1998, the attention to stretch assignments continued. She was offered the position of consulting around financial incentives and derivatives, not usually assigned to first-year partners. “It was totally different and I spent four years in that group and learned a lot about the consultative side of our business,” Cathy says.

Early in her career, her mentors primarily were male, although they included Deloitte’s first female board chair, Sharon Allen. Former CEO Jim Quigley “took an interest in me” and helped her get an assignment working with pharmaceutical companies, another stretch job.

“The best piece of mentoring advice I ever had was not to be scared to do differing things, to move out of your comfort zone,” she says.

A Role Model for Others

Today, with close to 20 percent of the partners women and 60 percent of new hires from underrepresented groups, Cathy feels proud to be a role model.
A turning point in her career, she says, is when people saw her managing her work and home priorities successfully (she is married and has a 17-year-old daughter and a 13-year-old son). “I always get to my kids’ sporting events. I even coached my daughter’s basketball team,” she says. “This is all about predictability. If I know my daughter has a game and I know urgent client matters come up, I work it out.”

Cathy notes that young people today “are looking for the ability to do different things rather just work 24/7.” Deloitte wants to ensure this generation of high-potentials wants to stay with the firm and move up.

“We’ll only be as successful as the people we hire,” she says.

Cathy works extensively with the high-potentials at Deloitte now. “This is what I love to do,” she adds, noting that someone recently asked her what her proudest moment at Deloitte has been and she cited an email she received from a female senior manager who had recently had twins and was pregnant with a third child.

“She said, ‘Cathy, you give me so much inspiration. I know I can make my career here.’” Out of the messages she has received recently, including many congrats on her promotion to CEO, “that was my favorite,” she says.

She makes mentoring senior managers, particularly women with families, her priority and is particularly gratified when they make partner.

She cites the value of programs Deloitte has for emerging leaders, including a 12-month initiative for high-potential women leaders and many development opportunities available through Deloitte University.

While not in any way diminishing the value of these programs, she adds: “You can have the greatest programs in the world, but if you don’t connect with the young people to make sure they know they are valued by us and their clients, it doesn’t matter.”

Cathy is proud to be the first woman CEO at Deloitte and notes that diversity and inclusion are important to leading the company.

“My main goal is to inspire our men and women and be very inclusive. I want everybody to know that diversity and inclusion are priorities for me,” she says.

Sandra Bland was buried over the weekend, dead as a result of driving while Black in Waller County, Texas — previously best known for being a rail-head for moving slave-picked cotton north. They’re done with her body, but the murder of her character continues unabated.

Following State Trooper Brian Encinia’s fit of pique that landed Sandra in jail over failing to put out a cigarette, Waller County’s first Assistant District Attorney, Warren Diepraam, gave a character assassination press conference to tell the world that Sandra Bland had marijuana in her system, 30 healed or healing cuts on her forearm (the insinuation being self-mutilation) and no signs of struggle — which is ironic considering she was arrested for assaulting the officer who pulled her over.

I have never seen medical examiners work so quickly. But in this case, it’s apparently to absolve officials of guilt, as indicated by Diepraam’s statement video (please be advised that the video regarding Sandra Bland’s autopsy on Houston’s KPRC Channel 2 website was offensively preceded by an advertisement regarding monkeys at the zoo when I viewed it). Diepraam pointed out that marijuana is a “mood amplifier” and that “ideas in a person’s mind could be amplified.”

Prosecutor Warren Diepraam

Trooper Encinia, who pulled over Sandra for failing to use her turn signal, has not been supported by some Texas law enforcement officials. “Regardless of the situation, the DPS state trooper has an obligation to exhibit professionalism and be courteous,” said DPS Director Steve McCraw. Encinia was a state trooper for less than one year, and his digital presence seems to have disappeared. We do not know if he had marijuana in his system — which may have explained his “amplified” reaction to a woman smoking a cigarette.

A reaction, by the way, which occurred after his official business for the lane change without turn signal was concluded — making the subsequent interaction (“amplification” if you will) an apparent violation of the April Supreme Court decision on Rodriguez versus the United States, which dictates that police interaction is concluded once the reason for the traffic stop has been dealt with.

Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith, responsible for the jail where Sandra was held for three days before she was found dead, was fired from a previous job (police chief of Hempstead, Texas) for racism — and the Texas Commission on Jail Standards said they found that the Waller County Jail didn’t meet two areas of the state’s minimum jail standards. In his current position, he called Rev. Pendleton a “dumb ass” in a text response to a request for statistics on the demographics of traffic stops. We do not know if Sheriff Smith had marijuana in his system, which may explain his “amplified” behavior — and the gigantic trash cans with trash liners in each cell.

Sheriff Glenn Smith

What we are left with is a dead Black motorist and a lot of apparently privileged white men who exhibited difficult to explain — or “amplified” — behavior surrounding the end of her life.

But this isn’t unusual. In Ferguson, former police officer Wilson testified that he felt like a child in the arms of Hulk Hogan — even though Wilson and the teenager he shot to death, Mike Brown, were both 6’4” tall. Wilson, too, had his Internet presence mysteriously expunged as the police chief and prosecutor churned out copious information smearing the character of teenager Mike Brown. Wilson slunk out of town after collecting close to $1 million in donations. His boss was fired, but the prosecutor kept his job — and we have no idea how high (or not) any of the involved were.

In Cleveland, police officer Timothy Loehmann said in a statement (regarding his shooting 12-year-old Tamir Rice to death): “He gave me no choice. He reached for the gun and there was nothing I could do.” Yet the video shows that former police officer Loehmann didn’t have the time to see anybody reaching for anything, as he jumped out of his car and started blasting away within seconds. Much was made of Tamir Rice weighing 180 pounds. In his preceding police job, Loehmann was allowed to resign as separation proceedings were underway after an incident of mental instability at a pistol range. We do not know if Loehmann had marijuana in his system when he shot Tamir Rice. We don’t know if the people responsible for screening Loehmann had marijuana in their systems when they failed to look at his personnel jacket in the hiring process.

I could go on and on, but the point is that in every case that sparked recent protests — Ferguson, Cleveland, New York, Baltimore — the victims had their character smeared, while the officials in charge never had their character questioned — or their blood tested. Even more disturbing, the bodies of the dead people were made to be the object of derision — using Black stereotyping.

The difference this time? Social media is holding the public’s attention and keeping things on track. It is important, however, to understand the pattern for what it is. A constant stream of denigrating Black victims to justify the behavior of white men in public power structures is part of American history — a counter-productive, justice-inhibiting, freedom-destroying tradition that must come to an end.

“This is the big step. I am so excited,” Gail Mandel says of her recent promotion to President and CEO of Wyndham Exchange & Rentals.

In her new position, she oversees RCI, the global leader in timeshare vacation exchange, with about 3.7 million members in more than 100 countries, and Wyndham Vacation Rentals, with 103,000 vacation properties in Europe and North America.

“I have had the pleasure of working with Gail for the past 20 years, and have relied on her consistent leadership, exceptional expertise and great passion for our business,” he said in a statement. “I am incredibly pleased to welcome her into this new leadership role for which she is uniquely suited.”

Gail previously was both Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Wyndham Exchange & Rentals, but this is her first time heading a business unit—and one that represents approximately a third of Wyndham Worldwide’s operations.

“I love these businesses. Many of them I helped acquire and I am thrilled to work with these people to grow the business,” she says.

She demonstrated her abilities when she stepped into the dual COO/CFO roles in March after previous division President and CEO Geoff Ballotti moved to the Wyndham Hotel Group.

“Gail is an incredibly strong executive, with unmatched knowledge and experience in the exchange and rental businesses,” Holmes stated. “In the months since she assumed the additional duties as COO, she has seamlessly and successfully led that team, and in collaboration with its leaders and managing directors has set the business on an exciting course for the future.”

Since about 60 percent of the revenue in her segment comes from outside the United States, global diversity and local cultural competence is critical to that success, Gail says.

“We need a diverse associate base so we can service those customers. … Having D&I provides us the opportunity to attract the best talent [and to] be sensitive to each market and the needs of each customer,” she says.

“The greatest challenge to global diversity is prioritization,” she adds, citing the 9,000 associates around the globe. “They have all these great ideas. … We are making sure that we are matching how we are using our resources to what is best for our customers.”

She notes that Wyndham has an Ideas Lab where associates can submit innovative suggestions online, which are then sent to the HR team and discussed by senior executives.

Humble Origins

Gail is a true American success story. She grew up in what she terms a “modest home, a post–World War II garden apartment. My sister and I shared a 10-by-10 bedroom and neither of our parents graduated college.”

Gail had to put herself through college, and she recalls that financial independence was her top priority. She studied accounting and secured a position with Deloitte & Touche as an auditor.

She worked with many different companies and the experience helped her understand critical issues and industry variations. “But I wanted to be part of a company” instead of a consultant, she recalls.

A recruiter in 1993 approached her about joining HFS Inc., which had gone public the previous year. HFS’ successor, Cendant Corp., eventually broke up and evolved into Wyndham.

“The culture was dynamic and exciting. It was a good fit. We had the opportunity to acquire other companies and I had the opportunity to expand my knowledge,” she says. She served as controller for the relocation business, and then the travel company, which included car rentals.

A First-Rate Mentor

Gail cites Holmes as an example of everything a mentor should be.

“He is a fantastic listener and always makes time for any question. A good mentor is someone you respect, who you want to emulate,” she says.

She had other mentors who have helped her with more tactical skills, such as presentation skills or being a better manager of HR. “It’s critically important to get this right because our people are our greatest asset. We’ve got to have strong people who are passionate about what they do. As a leader, you’ve got to motivate them,” she says.

Her advice to younger executives is to pay attention to successful people. “Early on I took the time to study the people I respected—[I looked at] what traits do I have that sync up with what they do and what do I need to develop,” she says.